The precious metal was recovered from an Indian origin passenger who arrived at the airport form Bangkok today.
Suspecting the movement of the concerned passenger, Customs officials detained him and recovered the gold that was hidden inside his rectum after a thorough search.
As over 7 kgs of gold have been seized from the airport in the past two months, it has now become a cause of concern for the law enforcing agencies to curb such gold smuggling.
Sources said with direct flight connectivity to several foreign destinations, smugglers are trying to explore Bhubaneswar route to import gold which is relatively cheaper in countries outside India.
On June 16, the Customs officials intercepted a youth who arrived from Bangkok in an Air India flight at the airport and recovered one gold ‘kada’ and one a chain. The recovered gold weighed 249.350 grams with an estimated market value of around Rs 8 lakh.
355.120 gram gold worth over Rs 11 lakh was also seized from a passenger on June 15. Four oval shape capsules were concealed inside the passenger’s rectum which was detected during frisking. After opening the capsules, brown colour paste was found inside the pack and gold was recovered mixed in powder form, official sources said.
An owl struck the plane when it took off from the runway no 14 of the airport with 191 passengers on board at 06.29 pm on Sunday. The plane had to return to the airport and landed safely at 06.58 pm, a statement issued by the airport authorities said.
All passengers aboard have been reported to be safe. No damage to the flight has been reported, it added.
The aircraft departed again at 08.23 pm after a thorough inspection by airline’s engineers.
The airport authorities are taking steps to prevent bird menace. "We are taking several measures including bursting of crackers, reflecting film and frequent inspections by expert teams to control bird menace. Recently, a team of experts from OUAT had conducted thorough inspection and suggested several measures like vegetation management and insect control to reduce bird hazards," the statement added.
The SpiceJet flight on its way to Bagdogra from Chennai had to be diverted and made an emergency landing after a 64-year-old on board passenger N.Das complained of uneasiness and fell sick.
SpiceJet's Boeing 737 aircraft with 189 passengers on board landed at Bhubaneswar airport at around 12:26 PM. Later, a team of doctors at the medical inspection room of Biju Patnaik airport immediately responded to the SOS call.
Also Read: Gold Bars Worth Rs 20 Lakh Seized At Bhubaneswar Airport
An advance ambulance was also kept on standby as a precautionary measure after the airport's terminal management was alerted about the medical emergency of a passenger.
However, after preliminary check up at treatment at the airport, Das was declared fit and the flight departed at around 1:56 PM today.
https://youtu.be/IpG_vLN4Iuc
The new International and domestic flight operations by SpiceJet has been welcomed by the air travellers as they were forced to either travel to Mumbai or Delhi to connect to international gateways.
Earlier, AirAsia had started operations from Bhubaneshwar to Kuala Lumpur which is said to have opened up new avenues for people residing in Odisha planning a visit to the Far East and Australia.
At present, AirAsia is operating direct flight services to Kuala Lumpur five days a week from Bhubaneswar airport.
The international flight operation from Bhubaneswar is likely to play a crucial role in boosting the tourism potential in Odisha in particular, said tour operators in the city.
Source said, AirAsia has also started its daily operation in domestic circuits— Bengaluru-Kolkata-Bhubaneswar and a total of 20 flights are engaged in operations from Bhubaneswar to 10 cities within the country.
The aircraft, however, landed safely and no passengers were hurt. The aircraft remains grounded at the airport where engineers are assessing the damage to the plane.
Following the incident, the flight has been cancelled.
A team from Nandankanan, which got into the act in the evening, used tranquilisers to tame the monkey.
Nandankanl officials were roped into the "Operation Monkey" that started in the morning after all attempts to capture the simian by authorities of the airport and personnel of Forest department failed.
Airport authorities and forest department personnel tried everything from anesthetic drug to serving bananas laced with sedatives to spreading a special net to bring the simian down, but to no avail. The animal remained ensconced on a grill hanging from the roof- top of the new airport terminal, blissfully oblivious of all the commotion below.
Keeping the safety of air passengers in mind, some personnel were seen chasing the monkey when the animal kept jumping from one beam to another on the roof-top.
Rajat Kumar Mohapatra , Forester, Bhubaneswar Forest area, said, “Now we are making the efforts to catch the animal and I will inform about the next step after speaking to the Range Officer.”
Shubhendu Mallick, Honorary Wild Life Warden, said, “The monkey took the banana injected with the anesthetic drug and kept jumping from one bar to the other without any hassle. The animal is not harming anyone as he might have lived with human being.”
An MoU was signed today between the state government and Air Asia in presence of Odisha Chief Secretary A P Padhi and Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan for direct international flights to Kuala Lumpur.
Earlier in January this year, international cargo operations began from the Biju Patnaik International Airport.
Frequent fliers to South East Asian countries would have an option to fly from here and the state's tourism, economy, trade, hospitality sector and cultural exchange would witness an upward trend owing the international connectivity with the city, officials said.
The state government had last year allowed Air Asia to receive subsidy support of Rs 1.70 lakh per round trip for starting air services from Bhubaneswar to Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.
The state government has already reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) to zero per cent for direct international flights. Besides, the state government had allowed reasonable Viability Gap Funding (VGF) in the form of subsidy grant.
The system which costs an estimated Rs 25 lakh will be installed by the Netherlands-based firm and is likely to be fully operational by September this year. The ASMGCS facility is present in several important airports across the country and globally.
“In a bid to cater to the increasing traffic density at the airport, we have decided to install the system which will enable us to ensure safety and facilitate capacity enhancement,” said the airport director.
As part of other infrastructural development, the airport authorities are also constructing a 2.7 km long parallel taxi track, a fire station and a hangar for parking facilities and disaster preparedness.
“The DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) has already granted us permission for a taxi track and we will see a new avatar of the Bhubaneswar airport after the project is implemented,” Hota said.
Acting on a spot intelligence, the officials intercepted one passenger of Indian origin, hailing from Chennai, who arrived in an Air Asia Flight No AK-31 from Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Later, when they conducted a search of his personal baggage, the officials found four pieces of Gold strips of foreign origin delicately concealed in aluminium linings of the trolley bags.
Assistant Commissioner of Customs BPI Airport, BB Pattanaik informed, “The recovered gold totally weighed 690.550 grams with purity of 99.90 per cent has been valued at Rs 21.89 lakh (approx). Further investigation into the case is in progress.”
[caption id="attachment_321374" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Seized Gold..[/caption]
In view of the above and In line with the recent Govt order the following guidelines are being issued for air passengers for Bhubaneswar International Airport...
1. The passengers deboarding at Bhubaneswar shall have to produce RTPCR negative report or Rapid Antigen test negative report which need to be obtained 48 hours prior to landing at Bhubaneswar.
2. Citizens can also produce final vaccination certificate while deboarding at Bhubaneswar in lieu of above mentioned COVID tests.
3 Citizens coming without any of the above reports shall have to undergo mandatory RAT test at the testing facility created at BPIA premises for this purpose. The positive cases detected at the RAT test at the BPIA will be dealt with as per the treatment protocol.
4. The Director BPIA shall ensure adherence of the above guidelines strictly.
5. This will come Into effect immediately.
As per reports, the plane had to make the emergency landing after one of the passengers on board allegedly created disturbance in the plane. It is said that the passenger is mentally unstable.
The airport staff reportedly handed over the passenger to the airport police. Meanwhile, the passenger has been admitted to the Capital Hospital.
More details awaited.
"The Airports Authority of India (AAI) board has approved the plan. We will seek in-principle approval of the Cabinet now. Once it is approved, the bidding process would start," said an official source.
The Ministry hopes to complete the bidding process by the end of this financial year.
The move to bid out more airports to private companies has come close on the heels of government privatising six airports. Gujarat-based Adani Enterprises was the highest bidder for all the six airports. While the Union Cabinet has approved leasing out of three airports - Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru - to Adani, the other three airports - Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram - are currently on hold due to some pending issues. In case of all the airports, the lease period is 50 years.
Defending the government's decision to privatise more airports, an official said that AAI would get more revenue as a result of this and focus on the development of smaller airports.
"The six airports which are being leased out generated a combined profit of Rs 220-250 crore for the AAI. After privatisation, the AAI would get Rs 900-1,100 crore in a year without making any expense," the official said.
It, however, may be noted that government, for the last two years, has been making claim over the AAI's almost entire profits requiring the state agency to part with it as a dividend.
Unionised staff of AAI has been protesting against the government move to privatise airports fearing job losses and early retirement. They staged a sit-in at Jantar Mantar in the Capital to protest against the government move.
As per reports, players and support staff of both the teams will be lodged at Hotel MAYFAIR Lagoon in Bhubaneswar, their regular place of stay during international encounters at Barabati stadium. Upon touchdown, the players will be brought to the hotel by a special bus in a carcade.
Sources said at least 63 platoons of police force and a Rapid Action Force contingent comprising 300 officers have been deployed to maintain law and order situation till the high profile match is done and dusted.
A mock drill of the carcade was also carried out by the Commissionerate Police to ensure that there remains no lapse in the security cover for the players when they are ferried from airport to the hotel and then from the hotel to the stadium.
That which hadn't been possible till now is finally going to happen in the times of COVID-19, as for the first time, a direct flight from Dubai will land at the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar. This is being done as part of the process to repatriate hundreds of Odias back to where they belong, thanks to the initiation of UAE expatriates.
The AI flight 1996 will depart from Dubai this Thursday (May 14) at around 3 PM and is scheduled to arrive at the Bhubaneswar Airport the same day at 9.15 PM.
Appreciating the endeavour of Consulate General of India in Dubai, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the Ministry of External Affairs in making this happen, the Odisha Samaj UAE tweeted, "Elated and ecstatic to announce that a special 179 seater Air India Flight with Odia expats is confirmed to depart from Dubai for Bhubaneswar on May 14."
According to sources, around 2500 Odias in Dubai have registered to return to Odisha. With regard to a possible inconvenience, the Odisha Samaj UAE said, "We are anticipating cooperation from every fellow Odia brother and sister stranded in UAE. We care for you and stand in solidarity with all of you. We are doing our best to accommodate maximum distressed people in the first plane scheduled to fly on May 14. For now, only 179 can fly. The final decision on the evacuee list is in the hands of Indian Consulate."
It is pertinent to mention that last month the Odisha Samaj UAE had requested Consul General of India in Dubai, UAE for a special flight each from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Bhubaneswar for repatriation of stranded Odias.
As per the Ministry of Civil Aviation, as many as 6037 Indians have been flown back to India in 31 inbound flights operated by Air India & Air India Express under Vande Bharat Mission in 5 days beginning from May 7, 2020. The mission is touted as the world's largest evacuation operation undertaken since Independence.